Sungold
by Brissi
Summary: Sunny, a kittypet who lives in the Twolegplace near the forest, discovers another world hidden right outside the safety of her home. Cats from the four original clans have formed a fifth clan named TreeClan and are inviting loners, rogues, and kittypets to join them. Sunny must decide whether to stay true to her roots or forge a new path for her and her siblings.


Sunny stretched on her back as the sun beat down on her, making her golden fur blaze. She sighed as a cool breeze tickled her belly fur. All days should be like this, she thought. Peaceful and quiet. Suddenly, Sunny heard a door opening and her housefolk calling to her. Sunny yawned and rolled over, ignoring them. Today was too nice a day to spend inside. When they realized she wasn't coming, her housefolk went back inside, but not before their little dog slipped outside. The white dog bounded over to the stone wall where Sunny lay. It started yapping and jumping, trying to get at her. Sunny hissed in annoyance and clambered to her paws. Sunny stretched and padded along the wall, the dog following. When, she reached the corner of her yard, she leaped off the wall to land in a flowering bush. The bush grew in another cat's yard so Sunny quickly crossed the yard and entered the next one. Eventually, the dog's barks faded into silence as Sunny crossed from yard to yard. Sunny crossed one last fence and stopped. Her sister, Moony, lived here, in this yard. When they were kits, their mother had abandoned them, along with their brother, Comet, and their other sister, Star. The four had survived alone by sticking together and fending for each other. They had roamed the roads around the housefolks' dens, fighting other cats for scraps and a place to sleep. During the night, Comet and Sunny snuck out and look for food that the housefolk might have thrown out in the night. Comet and Sunny had been the oldest of the four, taking care of their younger sisters. Finally, the two admitted that they couldn't survive there, surrounded by the beasts that raced along the paths of stone. They had gathered their sisters and headed for the green that they saw above the housefolks' dens.

"We'll be safe in the forest," Comet had said.

But Comet never made it. He was struck by a beast. Sunny had dragged Comet off the path and fixed him a bed. Comet had gone to sleep and wouldn't wake up. Sunny, Star, and Moony tried to wake him. A housefolk spotted them, got out of his beast, and took the sisters to a den that smelled of dogs and cats. There, they were kept in boxes made of hard wire. Luckily, the sisters were next to each other. But then a female housefolk had taken Star. The other cats said it was normal and that Star was lucky to have been taken. A family of housefolk had taken Sunny to their den and kept her warm and safe. Soon, they allowed Sunny out into the yard. Sunny remembered her first steps on the cool green grass she had dreamed about. At first, Sunny had been hesitant but after feeling the grass on her sore pads, she began to explore in earnest. There was a tree in the corner farthest from the den that squirrels liked to gather under. Sunny realized squirrels were after the nuts that had fallen from the tree. There were bushes lining the left side of the yard and, when the green came back after the snows, they sprouted flowers. That was her favorite time: when the flowers came and the birds chased each other through the bushes. In the middle of her yard, a stone bowl sat, with more bowls stacked on top of it. At the top, water always poured. The water would fill the top bowl and fall to the second. It kept doing that until it reached the bottom. The bottom never filled up, for some reason. Did the housefolk use some for drinking water? Sunny shook her head, clearing it of sad memories, and padded up to Moony's cat flap. Sunny slipped inside and found her sister eating some pink meat that smelled like fish and workfolk from a plate.

"Moony!" Sunny called as she strode over.

Moony jumped and spun around.

"You shouldn't sneak up on me like that!" Moony scolded. "I don't know when you're coming."

"Sorry," Sunny said. "Come on! Let's go play with Star. I hear she made up a new game."

"Great," Moony said, looking excited. "Just let me finish this."

She turned back to her plate and ate another piece. Sunny crept over and shot her paw out, hooking a piece of the pink stuff with her claws. Before Moony could snatch it back, Sunny stuffed it in her mouth. It tasted of water and meat, and Sunny loved it. Sunny grabbed another piece, then another and another. Soon, the plate was empty and Moony and Sunny were licking their lips, savoring the taste.

"Mmmm…" Sunny mumbled. "That is good."

"Uh huh," Moony agreed. "I wish there was an entire plate of it, just for me."

Sunny pawed the plate closer to her and licked up the grease the meat left behind.

"Okay, let's go," Moony said, getting to her paws and padding out of the den.

Sunny stood and followed Moony out into the yard and over the fence that surrounded it. The two made their way to the edge of the housefolk dens, were they entered a yard filled with small trees and bushes. Moony tipped her head back and let out a yowl. A small, white she-cat with black flecks came running out of the den and over to them. She skidded to a halt, spraying them with dirt. Sunny spit a clump out of her mouth and shook the rest from her fur. Next to her, Moony was doing the same.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Star gasped, her eyes wide. "Did any get in your eyes?"

Sunny spit a beetle on the ground.

"No, we're fine," she answered.

"But that beetle isn't," Moony pointed out.

The three purred in amusement.

"So, what's the new game?" Sunny asked.

"Well, I was thinking, we haven't really explored the woods yet, have we?" Star said. "So I was thinking we could go in there and two of us could hide and the third would try and find us."

"Great!" Moony exclaimed. "Let's go!"

Sunny nodded and led the three over to the wall blocking out the forest. Sunny crouched down, and then jumped, with some difficulty, onto the wall. She helped the other two up and, together, they dropped down to the forest floor. Sunny stood still for a moment, feeling the soft grass and leaves under her paws. She breathed in the smells of the forest and smelled dirt, plants, and another scent she couldn't identify. A sound reached her ears and Sunny angled her ears towards it. It sounded like tiny paws pattering on leaves. Sunny strode towards it and burst into a clearing. She saw a mouse, frozen with a berry in its paws. Then, the mouse sprang into action, dropping the berry and darting into a hole amongst the roots of a tree.

"Sunny?"

Sunny heard Moony calling and turned towards her voice. She bounded through the undergrowth and joined her sisters under a bush.

"Okay," Star said. "Sunny, Moony and I will hide somewhere and you come and find us after you count to… ten."

Sunny crouched down.

"Okay," she said, and her sisters raced out of the bush and into the surrounding undergrowth. Sunny peered into the undergrowth after them.

"One, two, three, four."

The rustling stopped as her sisters fled farther into the forest.

"Five, six, seven, eight, nine."

A bird let out a loud call, then fluttered away through the trees.

"Ten!"

Sunny sprang to her paws and was about to leap after Moony when she stopped. A scent tickled her nose and Sunny breathed it in. It smelled like the pink meat she and Moony had been eating. Sunny sniffed at her sister's scent and put her nose to the ground. Instead of dashing off without a second thought, Sunny kept her nose to the ground and trotted quickly through the trees. She'd never really thought about using scent trails to find other cats, mainly because she already knew where they were. She kept on for a couple minutes, then found Moony hiding just inside a dark hole in the ground.

"Found you!" Sunny crowed.

Moony mumbled something and crawled out of the den.

"How'd you find me so fast?" she complained once she was out. "I thought it would take you forever to find me!"

"I followed your trail," Sunny said proudly.

"My what?" Moony asked.

"Your scent trail," Sunny said. "I followed it."

Moony shrugged.

"Whatever," she said. "I just hope you can follow Star's too."

"I can."

Sunny turned and followed her own trail back to the beginning then found Star's. Star's was more difficult to follow. It seemed to have faded, and Star had zigzagged all over the place. Star jumped from rock to rock to avoid leaving prints and climbed trees and jumped to the next one. Finally, Sunny found Star hiding under a holly bush. Star slid out and joined Sunny and Moony underneath an oak tree. The three sisters padded back the way they came and settled down in the clearing.

"Want to play again?" Moony asked. "This time I want to look for you all."

"Sure," Sunny purred. "Come on, Star. I have an idea."

Star got to her paws and followed Sunny into the forest.

"So what's your idea?" Star asked as they padded along. "Is it an idea that will help us hide?"

Sunny nodded and sped up her pace. Star did the same and the pair trotted in between the giant trunks.

"I found you by scent," Sunny said. "Like a trail, kind of. It's way easier than looking."

"But you took pretty long to find me," Star protested. "Why's that?"

"I looked for Moony first and found her pretty quick. Anyway, Moony's probably trying to follow our scent right now. It's a pretty cool thing but it takes time. I think it helps if whoever you're following isn't moving. So we're going to keep moving and running until we get tired. Then, we'll stop and let her find me. But you'll keep going. I'll stall Moony and you find another place to hide. It's genius, really."

"That's perfect! Moony will be sniffing and sniffing and she won't know where we are! Come on! We've got to pick up the pace if we're going to stay ahead. And let's swerve everywhere, just to make it harder. I know that worked with you. When we followed your scent back, you weren't always following my trail."

"You could still smell yours? I lost it a couple times and I didn't smell it at all on the way back."

"I guess I'm better at smelling than you."

Sunny shrugged and pushed herself into a run. Star sped up in response and, soon, the sisters were tearing through the woods. Suddenly the ground dropped away and Sunny let out a yowl of surprise as she crashed down a steep bank. Pain flared in her paw as got caught on a root. Sunny gritted her teeth and managed to haul herself into a more comfortable position. Sunny choked back her pain and looked around. She was clinging to a muddy slope, a couple tail lengths above a river. The river flowed smoothly past, silent except for the sound of trickling water. Sunny glanced upward and saw Star tumbling towards her. Star crashed into her, knocking Sunny loose and the two cats fell into the river. Sunny gasped at the shock of the icy water and her head dipped under. Sunny thrashed her paws and struggled towards the light. Sunny's muzzle broke the surface and she had just enough time to take a breath before the river pulled her under again. She saw a dark blob moving towards her and tried to figure out who it was. The blob got clearer as it got closer and Sunny saw it was a cat. Star! But as the cat swam closer the fur, instead of getting lighter, got darker. That wasn't Star. The cat swam over to Sunny's side and, feebly, Sunny struck out with her claws unsheathed. The cat grunted and fastened her teeth to Sunny's scruff. A hidden memory surfaced of Sunny's mother, Astrid, carrying her this way. Sunny relaxed and let the mystery cat pull her to the surface. Sunny's muzzle broke the surface and she gasped in air. The cat pulled Sunny to the shore and passed her to another cat, which dragged Sunny away from the river. Sunny whimpered slightly as her injured paw bumped a rock. The cat carrying her gently set her on the ground and bent to inspect Sunny's paw. A yowl sounded in the direction of the river and there was a brief silence as the second cat joined the first. Sunny blinked the water out of her eyes and saw two gray cats pulling Star and Moony out of the river. Her sisters were dragged over and the cats set them down gently. The cat who had rescued Sunny padded over to her and sniffed. She said something to her companion that Sunny didn't catch and examined Sunny's throbbing paw. She said something else and moved on to Star, and then Moony. The second cat, a tom, gently applied pressure to Sunny's chest and an uncontrollable gush of water poured out of Sunny's mouth. Sunny coughed and tried to reposition herself. The she-cat pushed Sunny back down and muttered something in her ear. The she-cat picked Sunny up again and dragged her a couple tail-lengths, until Sunny's whimpering halted them. The tom yowled at the she-cat and the two pulled Star and Moony into the forest. After what seemed like a lifetime, the gray cats returned and, with the tom supporting Sunny's paw, Sunny was carried into a tangle of trees. When Sunny looked up, she saw the trees' branches had grown around each other, twisting around and becoming inseparable. The gray cats carefully climbed onto a tree that had fallen on its neighbor, creating a ramp into the treetops. At the top of the fallen tree, more cats waited with round eyes, staring at the pair's burden. A black tom, a mottled brown she-cat, and another, smaller gray tom took Sunny from her rescuers and set her down in the center of the trees. A small, delicate she-cat appeared along a path-like branch with a bundle of leaves in her mouth and joined the crowd of cats straining to get a look at Sunny. Sunny hissed and snapped at the cats that got too close. The gray she-cat let out a yowl and, hurriedly, the crowd dispersed. The delicate she-cat remained and let her leaves drop.

"I am Specklesun," she mewed softly. "I'm going to fix your leg, okay?"

Sunny nodded and Specklesun tenderly moved Sunny's paw. Sunny bit back a hiss of pain and watched as Specklesun covered her leg in some stiff leaves.

"Fetch some cobwebs," Specklesun ordered the gray tom.

Sunny expected the tom to object, but the tom dipped his head and bounded away along the same branch Specklesun had appeared from. He returned moments later with a bunch of cobwebs in his mouth. Specklesun took the cobwebs and wrapped Sunny's leg in them.

"To keep the reeds in place," Specklesun explained. "Reeds keep the bones in your paw straight so they don't heal crooked."

The gray tom stepped forward.

"My name is Thrushpelt," he said. "This is my mate, Hollytwist. Welcome to TreeClan."

Hollytwist flicked Thrushpelt's ear teasingly.

"She probably doesn't even know what a clan is," she purred. To Sunny, she said. "Our clan is a group of cats who hunt for their food and follow the warrior code."

Sunny blinked.

"We train our apprentices to fight, hunt, and care for their clan," Thrushpelt added. "The warrior code guides our actions in all we do."

"I've heard of the four clans by the lake," Sunny said, surprised by how rough her voice was. "But I didn't know there was a clan here."

Specklesun slapped her tail over Thrushpelt's mouth before he could respond.

"This cat needs to rest!" she said. "Take her to my den and you can explain why you're here and not at the lake in there."

Thrushpelt looked like he wanted to argue, but he dipped his head and picked Sunny up again.

"Does she need anything to eat?" Hollytwist asked.

Specklesun nodded and picked up Sunny's leg far more gently than Thrushpelt had. Specklesun and Thrushpelt carried Sunny along the branch until they came to a particularly thick portion of leaves. The three cats entered through a gap and Sunny found herself in a den, with nests of moss on the branch that served as the floor. Sunny was lowered into one close to a smaller gap in the back of the den. Sunny sighed as she settled into a comfortable position in the soft moss nest. Hollytwist joined them with a bird in her jaws. Specklesun took the bird and set it down in front of Sunny.

"So what's your name?" Specklesun asked.

"Sunny," Sunny said. "Do you want me to eat the bird?"

"Yes," Hollytwist said. "It's good."

"Come on, Sunny!" a voice said from the nest next to Sunny's. "It really is good. Better than the pink stuff!"

"Moony!" Sunny gasped. "You're here!

Moony's head appeared from the lump of moss and purred.

"Star too," Moony said. "She's sleeping, though."

Sunny stretched out and sank her teeth into the bird's belly. Flavors sang on her tongue and Sunny gobbled up the rest of the bird.

"Mmm…" she said. "Way better."

"So you want to know why we're not at the lake." Thrushpelt asked.

Sunny and Moony nodded.

"There are four clans at the lake. RiverClan is known for its love of water and beauty, and for their ability to swim. ShadowClan is known for its skills in sneaking and hunting at night. Well, I was Thrushpelt of WindClan. We are known for our speed and love of wind and open sky."

"I was Hollytwist of ThunderClan, the clan known for our skills in unseen and unsmelled movement. We are known also for our skill in climbing trees."

"We met at our first Gathering as warriors. Gatherings is when all four clans meet in peace to exchange news, warnings, and, sometimes, threats. ThunderClan and WindClan had recently fought and our casualties were high. WindClan needed comfrey for a broken leg."

"I offered him some and we met again at the next half-moon. I brought the herbs. We were about to part when he suggested we meet again. I agreed. We were already slightly in love."

"We met many times, until it was all spoiled. A WindClan she-cat had been mooning over me for a long time and she was curious where I went. She followed me and saw me with Hollytwist. She must have been furious. She announced it at the next Gathering. Hollytwist wasn't there, but I was. My own clanmates turned on me and I barely escaped. I had a deep cut above my eye and most of the fur on my flank was gone. I fled to ThunderClan territory. I could hear the ThunderClan party coming after me, and they were howling for blood."

"He snuck into the camp and found me. He told me we were in danger and we had to leave. But by then it was too late. The ThunderClan party arrived and cornered us in the warriors' den. Bramblestar was furious and Lionblaze nearly clawed my face off. Hollytwist was lucky. Her sister begged them not to hurt her and Bramblestar agreed. That stirred up protests. While they were arguing, we snuck out. We were nearly at the far border when Lionblaze, Seedpaw, Bumblestripe, and a WindClan patrol attacked."

"I was already wounded, but I fought for my love and my mate. Lionblaze ended up at my throat and nearly killed me. The she-cat who betrayed us also saved my life. We ran away with ThunderClan at our heels. Eventually, they turned back. We decided to start a clan here. We healed and started asking around for cats with the potential to become warriors. We ended up getting a lot of cats. Later, we'll introduce you to our clanmates. That is how we came to be here."

Sunny nodded, amazed that two cats could suffer so much.

"Tomorrow, I will address the clan and find worthy candidates for the position of leader," Thrushpelt finished.

Thrushpelt and Hollytwist turned and, as Thrushpelt stopped to let Hollytwist out, Sunny caught a glimpse of the scars in Thrushpelt's throat. Sunny shuddered and closed her eyes.


End file.
